Caribbean Cruise April, 2008

We left the kids with my mom & dad and flew out of Vegas to Ft. Lauderdale, FL

We set sail on Holland America's Westerdam for a 7 day Caribbean Cruise

Our first port was Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.
It was a private island so there wasn't much to see.
It poured on us for a good portion of the time we spent there but finally let up
in the afternoon. We had a big BBQ and were able to relax in the sun later that day.

I'm not sure Quinn will appreciate me putting this photo up, but
I love it!

Our next port was Grand Turk of Turks & Caicos

The island was named after a funny looking cactus that looks like a turkey's

gobbler and Caicos is another name for "a chain of islands".

We specifically chose this cruise to go on so we could check out
Turks & Caicos for future vacations. It made our short list. We will definitely go back.

The island was so quiet. It is still a well keep secret unlike Provenciales, the larger of the
two main islands. The only people we ran into were locals trying to keep cool in the hot sun.

The old buildings and homes were quaint and picturesque.

This was a old home that a Hollywood producer used to own. He would house his staff and starlets here while filming. It is now a restaurant & bar.

We walked the entire little village in an hour or so. Another interesting bit of history.
This is the island Columbus landed on when he discovered America. There is a monument documenting it. The British own this island now but Canada has invested heavily into it & hopes to purchase it from the British. They are still in negotiation.

We went snorkeling here and saw cuddle fish, huge barracudas & and enormous stingray. It stealthily came up behind me and when Quinn motioned for me to turn around and look, it was practically beside me and literally scared me to death. It may as well have been a shark for the terror that ran through me for that split second. He swam away completely uninterested...thankfully!

This is Quinn's treasure he found diving. We threw it back in the ocean once everyone got a good look at it. The reef around Grand Turk has an unusual drop off. Its depth goes from 75 feet deep to 7000 ft deep. It was an eerie feeling as we passed over it in the boat and could see to the bottom through the clear blue water....then just dark abyss.

Our last port and Quinn's favorite was Grand Cayman

This is the oldest house on the island. They have preserved it as part of their history.

The most interesting place we went was Hell.

It is an actual place on Hell Street.

We mailed ourselves a postcard that was actually postmarked "from hell"

This is why they named it Hell. This black gray rock are lime deposits in the middle of a green oasis. Strange place and it certainly was hotter than hell!

We had time to kill before our flight left so we rented a car and drove down the coast to check out Miami. It looks just like it does on CSI and Miami Vice. Cool, cool, place. We called Mike & Lisa Dunham to find out where to go. Lisa sent us to South Beach, a hip happenin place with beautiful white beaches. It was great way to end our vacation in the warm sun!

We returned home to Calgary & 2 new feet of snow.